Jesse, Doug
face the heat

Auckland: New Zealand cricketers Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell are facing an investigation by New Zealand Cricket as they were involved in a late-night drinking session on the eve of the ongoing opening Test, against India.

Bracewell and Ryder, who are part of New Zealand’s 13-member Test squad, have admitted that they were in an Auckland bar in the early hours of Thursday morning.

“Their behaviour is totally unacceptable on the night before a match. We trust the players to make good decisions and the pair have breached this trust,” team manager Mike Sandle was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald.

Bracewell and Ryder, however, are not in the New Zealand playing XI for the first Test. Bracewell, a fast bowler, turned up on Thursday morning — the opening day of the Test — with a broken bone in his foot. Ryder was on standby for leading batsman Ross Taylor, whose wife is due to give birth to their second child and may have been a late withdrawal.

The cricketers have admitted their act to Sandle and NZC aren’t making any comment until their investigation is completed.

In February 2012, Bracewell and Ryder were suspended for one game after getting into an altercation in a Napier bar following a one-day International.

Bracewell also missed all three Tests against England at home last season after cutting his foot on glass during a clean-up after a party at his house in Napier.

Ryder’s career, too, has been affected by bouts of indiscipline.

He had received a six-month ban for failing a drug test early last year. In March 2013, Ryder was assaulted outside a bar in Christchurch and spent two days in a medically induced coma before making a recovery.